BOS TO CONSIDER ID CARDS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS

LAKE COUNTY -- Those using marijuana for medicinal purposes in Lake
County may soon join almost 3,000 of their counterparts statewide who
have access to county-issued identification cards to protect their
legal rights under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, and the more
recent Senate Bill 420.

The county Board of Supervisors will consider adopting an ordinance
implementing the Medical Marijuana ID Card Program and establish
dispensation fees.

The Compassionate Use Act was passed in 1996 by 56 percent of
California's voters, and protects patients with a recommendation from
a medical doctor for any debilitating illness, according to the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Some
common ailments for which a doctor may prescribe medical marijuana
include arthritis, cachexea, cancer, chronic pain, HIV or AIDS,
epilepsy, migraine and multiple sclerosis.

SB 420 took the legislation to the next level, requiring the state
health department to establish a voluntary medicinal marijuana patient
registry, and to issue identification cards to qualified patients.

A Nov. 16 Supreme Court ruling by Superior court Justice William R.
Nevitt, Jr. rejected a claim by San Diego, San Bernardino and Merced
counties that the federal Controlled Substances Act preempted the
Compassionate Use Act.

Since Senate Bill 420 became law in January 2004, "there has been a
lot of stalling on the State Department of Health side," said Aaron
Smith, statewide coordinator for Safe Access Now. The California
advocacy group has worked to promote the Medical Marijuana ID Card
Program since it recognized the need just over a year ago, said Smith.

The November ruling, said Smith, "further solidifies the strength of
California's medical marijuana laws, which are widely supported by the
voters."

He and his colleagues at Safe Access Now started the push last year
for California's 58 counties to implement the program since the
passage of SB 420. "The counties weren't moving forward as fast as we
had hoped," Smith said Friday. He noted that Lake County would be the
26th county to adopt the program, bringing the count to just under
half.

SB 420 mandates that counties make the ID card program available on a
voluntary basis to medical marijuana patients, which may serve to
lessen "unnecessary detainment, arrest or seizure of medicine from
qualified medical marijuana patients," said Smith.

Smith called the program a "win-win for the patient community as well
as the law enforcement community," noting that it would bring the
county into compliance with state law, create less hassle for patients
and take less law enforcement personnel time verifying
recommendations.

Smith explained that currently patients may be asked to show a
doctor's note or a written recommendation in the event that they are
stopped by law enforcement. "If somebody were pulled over ... during a
holiday or after hours, what happens is the law enforcement officer
attempts to verity the legitimacy of the recommendation by calling the
doctor's office, and that's very hard to verify. With the ID card on
the other hand, the registry program is available 24-7," said Smith.

ID cards issued to the nearly 3,000 California patients include a
photo, identification number and expiration date. Including a
patient's name and address, noted Smith, would violate medical privacy
laws. The cards display a holographic seal with California's state
seal in the corner to make them hard to duplicate.

In a recent press release, Smith praised Lake County's Board of
Supervisors for "taking up this important issue and (we) are hopeful
that Lake County's officials will listen to their constituency and
vote to protect local patients."

The board will consider the Lake County Health Department's proposal
to issue the cards Tuesday morning at 10:10 a.m. at the courthouse in
Lakeport.